I AM the GATE/GOOD SHEPHERD | John 10:1-18

our last week in Advent asking the question how does knowing the one who calls himself I am changes us we've been looking at I am the light of the world I am the bread of life and then this week it's a two-for-one and one passage Jesus says I am twice he says I am the gate and I am The Good Shepherd but do not worry I will not preach a double sermon today we're always asking the question what is going to lead me to be more fully alive what is going to lead me to more life like a more fruitful life and a more fun life and a more fulfilled life and it always feels a little bit elusive if we're honest we always feel like there's something more and so we keep attaching ourselves to things saying I will follow you if you give me more life and we make our career everything if I could just find this fulfilling career it will bring me to life if I can just find that person I'll be fulfilled in my life and what Jesus looks at us today and says from this passage is that I am the gate and I am The Good Shepherd let me lead you to life let me lead you to life this past week I had lunch on Monday with Chad and Ellie downtown there they're out and I think Arizona and New Mexico this week but I had lunch with them downtown and we're having a great conversation Monday afternoon and these two ladies came and sat at a table next to us and they were both wearing New England Patriot jerseys that yeah exactly I love you guys and that night you know the Dolphins were hosting the New England Patriots and I like to tease people so as we're talking I'm kind of thinking in the back of my mind I just want to kind of yell something playfully a little playful challenge at these ladies something like go back to Boston we don't want you here you know that's what's going through my mind and then I and then I started thinking about I go you know I don't think chattel care but I think that would really embarrass Ellie like I think she would she would turn bright red and and then secondly I started thinking more as like these ladies are from Boston and if they're from like South Boston and I issue this challenge they might like get up and come over here and beat me and Chad and Ally all up and just leave here and I was like maybe it's not a good idea but then lastly I thought you know what New England Patriots Tom Brady they're one of the better teams in the league and the Dolphins are not and so if I issue this challenge to these ladies and then the Patriots come into our house and they do their job they're going to crush us and the challenge is just kind of you you know it makes me look stupid in our passage Jesus is issuing a challenge because someone is not doing their job they're not going to get it done he's talking with the Pharisees the leaders of God's people and he challenges them with a story about shepherds and sheep saying you guys are not doing the job in verses 1 through 6 in John chapter 10 Jesus says this truly I tell you anyone who does not enter the Sheep in some other way is a thief and a robber the one who enters by the gate is the Shepherd of the sheep and the gatekeeper opens it for him and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out when he has brought all his own outside he goes ahead of them the Sheep follow him because they know his voice and they will never follow a stranger instead they will run away from him because they don't know the voice of strangers Jesus gave them this figure of speech but they did not understand what he was telling them Jesus be with us today as we expand your word Jesus tells the story about sheep and a pen and a shepherd and a gatekeeper and thieves and if you know a little bit about ancient sheep keeping what would happen is the Shepherd would have a pen for his sheep and there was one way in and one way out and anyone who didn't come in the proper appointed way through the gate should not be there they're only looking for trouble if they're trying to get in the sheep's pen and they don't come through the gate and the Shepherd would often hire someone to stand in the way of the gate often that person might sleep there and the Shepherd was the only one who was permitted to come in and out of the gate but thieves would come in and they could do things to the sheep or take the sheep but they weren't supposed to be there the Shepherd could come to his sheaf and he had a special relationship with his cheeping he knew them he knew what she per his cuz he spent so much time with him he could call for them and they would know it was his voice and they would follow him he would lead them out of the pen and Jesus is telling this elaborate story he's issuing a challenge but the Pharisees don't get it they don't get it because there's a backstory and they're not making the connection God's people had always been called his sheep and God had appointed people leaders to Shepherd those sheep in an easy kiyul 34 there's this passage about how bad the shepherds were there was bad shepherding going on the shepherds and the leaders of God's people were not leading them towards life rather they were selfishly trying to take life from the Sheep they were they were they were trying to use the Sheep for their own advantage and God was done with it God was done with it and he says there's going to be no more bad shepherding instead I myself will Shepherd these sheep because you Joker's aren't and I will appoint someone my servant David to be the Shepherd king of these people in Ezekiel 34 he says I will establish over them one Shepherd my servant David and he will Shepherd them he will tend them himself and will be their Shepherd I the Lord will be their God and my servant David will be a prince among them you are my flock the human flock of my pasture and I am your God God in the and through the prophet Ezekiel saying that bad shepherding is over but one one like David one like the Shepherd King David is coming and he will be a good Shepherd because he will lead the people of God to life and when Jesus issues this little story this little parable they don't get what he's saying but he's issuing them a challenge saying you were in the line of these bad Shepherds but there's a Good Shepherd coming a Good Shepherd who will lead the people of God to life now a couple things before we progress this text one is that you have to understand that your sheep okay and that's not flattering it's not flattering sheep are not very smart animals they tend to be a little bit smelly and they need a lot of help they didn't really know where to go often they would get would get something called downcast which is when they would get flipped over maybe they had water in their fur from the rain and they would flip over and they were not able to get up on their own then he would need the Shepherd to pick them up but we are sheep the Bible refers to us over and over as sheep we often go our own way thinking that we're right we're often not very smart about the ways of God we often need a lot of attention from God just to make it through the day we are like sheep but then secondly there are false shepherds out there there are false shepherds of the people of God who will promise you life and these people will look godly and they'll actually take life they'll say follow them but they will not lead you towards the ways of God they will not lead you towards fruitful living for God they will take life from you but there's one coming who will lead you to life who will lead you to belonging to God's flock because he says I am the gate to enter through in verse 7 through 10 of our passage Jesus says to them again truly I tell you I am the gate for the Sheep all who came before me are thieves and robbers but the Sheep didn't listen to them I am the gate and if anyone enters by me he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture a thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance Jesus calls himself the gate and what he means by the gate is when Shepherds would sleep in the doorway so that anything that wanted to get into the sheep pen had to go through the gate the person laying there and anything that want to go out of sheep pen had to go through the gate the person laying there and Jesus is saying I am the gate I am the way that you enter into God's flock I am the way that you enter into God's family there's only one way in and there's only one way out and it's through me and Jesus says I have come not to take life from my sheep but to give them and lead them into abundant life now if you're a sheep that sounds pretty good because you know you cannot find abundant life on your own Jesus saying that through me you become part of God's family you're no longer separated from God you're no longer in in tension with God because through Jesus and faith in Him you become part of his family and he leads you into life abundant this language that he says where he says come in and go out and find pasture that is language that was used towards the children of Israel when they were being led into the Promised Land and the idea was that once you're in the promised land if you come in or you go out you will find life and so Jesus is saying that he is going to lead people to life and through him people will find abundant life they'll find the blessings of freedom the blessings of provision the blessings of purpose as being part of the people of God through Jesus the gate you can find life abundance have you passed through that gate have you passed through that gate Jesus is the way into God's abundant life and scripture tells us that the way that we pass through the gate is through repentance and faith repentance is turning away from yourself and turning towards Jesus it's saying that everything that's outside this sheep pen of all my own desires and all own ways that I have chosen have actually separated me from God but by turning away from those and turning towards Jesus the gate I can find new life in him and restore relationship with God and once you pass through the gate you're part of the flock you're fully forgiven you find the freedom of being a child of God you find life abundant now that term life abundant is often misused in our culture what happens is people say we want abundant life and then they imagine whatever they want that to be whether it's like having a lot of money or having a lot of power or having a lot of prestige and they say well that's what God's going to give us and some people have those things they have money and power and prestige and so they say you can have that to come have the life abundant but that's not at all what Jesus means when he uses that phrase abundant life you know passing through the gate is not a transmogrifier a transmogrifier is something that completely changes who you are when you pass through the gate you're still a sheep right when you get on the inside of that pen you're still a sheep you still need a lot of care you still don't have a lot of power you still don't make great decisions at times but abundant life comes to those who pass through the gate and that that abundant life comes through a restored relationship with God it's not power and prestige and money it's meant for those who truly turn to God through Christ the good news is is once you pass through the gate your past no longer defines you God defines you and his love for you you're his sheep he cares about you that's abundant life once you enter into the pen you belong and he provides for you and gives you purpose as part of his people you become part of God's blended family you're not alone anymore you have someone that's committed to care for you no matter what problems you face in your life no matter what stupid things you do as a as a sheep God has committed himself to you and that is part of the life abundance so again I ask you have have you come to Jesus the gate there's no other way into God's family there's no other way into God's care but coming to Jesus and repentance and faith he is the true Shepherd of the sheep and verse 11 and 14 he says this I am the good chef perdón The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the Sheep I am The Good Shepherd I know my own and my own know me Jesus changes the analogy a little bit he goes from being the gate to the Shepherd of the sheep and not just any Shepherd but the Good Shepherd now when we think of the word Shepherd especially if you've been trained in the Bible a little bit you tend to think of someone who's like cuddling with sheep and just sort of carrying them around and that image isn't wrong but it's incomplete because in the ancient Near East the term Shepherd also meant king in fact it meant king who related to the people it was a good king one who had power and authority but cared about the people he was a ruler who related and a king who cared and what Jesus saying is I am that Shepherd King and I intimately know my sheep I know my own and my own know me I know my own and my own know me see Jesus knows your sin but you know through him you're forgiven Jesus knows your weakness but through him you know his strength Jesus knows that you walk through day to day often feeling defeated and discouraged but you know Jesus who is victorious he knows you and you know him the Shepherd King and he calls you by name he calls you to himself to follow him and to believe in the good news often times we want our we want some sort of calling in our life we're longing for our name to be called maybe to be called up into some new position at your job and that would be amazing or to called out you're afraid of being called out you have a shameful past and you don't want anyone to find out or you just really want to be called you're lonely someone call me I really want to connect with someone and all those things are real but the most important call you'll ever receive is Jesus calling you to follow him okay everything else is secondary it's the most important call when he looks at you and says bill follow me Philip follow me Linda follow me and you follow he knows you he loves you and you hear his voice oftentimes Shepherds the sheep of shepherds would get all mixed up together they would put him in the same pen or they'd put him in the same pasture and just the innocent bystander would look and go I don't have no idea how to tell who sheep is who well that didn't matter because the Shepherd's had a specific voice that would project it it sounded a certain way and when the Shepherd called his sheep his sheep would leave the rest of the sheep and come to him and if you have responded to that call follow me if you believe in the gospel you are part of his family you've heard his voice you're moving towards Jesus he has called you something significant and spiritual has happened when Jesus projects his voice to you and says come follow me you're in this intimate relationship with the Good Shepherd and what's amazing about him as it says it a goat he goes ahead of the sheep and he leads them to life now what I love about the language is it could he could have said that the Shepherd stands behind them and drives his sheep where he wants them to go but it doesn't say that Jesus says that the Good Shepherd stands in front of his sheep calls them to himself and then he steps out and leads them where he wants them to go you see too often we have this picture of Jesus as if he's behind this sort of driving us where he wants us to go and that that's not following Jesus that's called religion and it's full of guilt and shame and fear and never measuring up but Jesus is out in front of us calling to us to follow him Greig math says this many people feel more driven by religion than led by God they feel like God is behind them calling for more instead of in front leading them to more let me read that again they feel like God is behind them calling for more instead of in front of them leading to more if you live feeling driven long enough you will not be able to tell the difference between your guilt and the Lord's call on your life see following Jesus isn't a constant guilt trip where he's behind you shoving you and pushing you he's out in front of you calling you I know you by name come follow me I will lead you to green pastures I will lead you through the valley of shadow of death I will lead you to life so don't let religion get confused with following Jesus if you feel driven in your life if you feel like you constantly never can quite get ahead it might be the shame of your past it might be this desire to prove yourself or it might be fear but that's not the same thing as following Jesus Jesus leads you to life don't let those things from your past Drive you because if you entered into the in through the gate your shame and your past and your fears do not define you anymore Jesus the Good Shepherd defines you the Good Shepherd leads his sheep to life by laying down his own life and verse 11 through 13 Jesus says this I am The Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the Sheep the hired hand since he is not the shepherd and doesn't own the sheep leads them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming the wolf then snatches and scatters them this happens because he is a hired hand and doesn't care about the sheep in ancient Jewish writings there were rules about what a hired hand was to do if wolves attack the Sheep if he had been given charge of the sheep by the shepherd and one wolf came he was required to stay and fight off the wolf but if two wolves came he was no longer required and obligated to protect the sheep they weren't a sheep and I mean he wasn't about to give up his life to protect another man's sheep and so the hired hand would run away and was permitted to by law but what Jesus is trying to emphasize here is that he sticks with you his sheep no matter what it costs and no matter what he loses no matter what it costs and no matter what he loses and let me encourage you and let me challenge you because so many times life gets hard and you start to ask the question why should I stick with Jesus my life is not going the way I wanted to what does he offer me why should I stick with him have you ever wondered the opposite why should Jesus stick with you why what does he offer it what do you offer him and yet the amazing thing about Jesus you have nothing to offer him there's no reason that he should stick with you and yet he does he has committed himself to stick by you and to walk with you and never to leave you or forsake you even though you do not offer him anything he cares about you he cares about you and he's committed to you enough so that he's willing to lay down his life for you and verse 14 through 17 he says this again I am The Good Shepherd I know my own and my own know me just as the father knows me and I know the father I lay down my life for the sheep but I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice then there will be one flock one Shepherd this is why the Father loves me because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again Jesus is saying that he lays down his life for the sheep as an expression of God the Father's love he lays down his life to bring people from every tribe and language and people and nation into the flock of God so you know what that means there's still more room in the Sheep pen there's still more room in the Sheep pen for more sheep there's still more room for people who have gone their own way and they've gone astray we know the way to get into God's family through Jesus the gate Jesus lays down his life in order to make a blended family from every tribe and language and people and nation in order to make this diverse flock of God and he does this through releasing his life as a gift to you as a gift to you the last verse and our passage verse 18 says no one takes it no one takes my life from me but I lay it down on my own I have the right to lay it down and I have the right to take it up again I have received this command from my father no one takes it from me but I lay it down on my own in 2009 a woman named Shirley died Gert who was turning 54 decided to go skydiving for her birthday she was the grandmother of three and she went to go skydiving and she got paired with this man named Dave Hartsock they were gonna do a tandem jump and so she signed all the paperwork and got on the plane and the plane ascended to 13,000 feet and and with Dave strapped to her back they tumbled out of the plane and into the air and it was exhilarating I mean this 54 year old woman had never experienced anything like this and she was having a blast until Dave pulled the parachute cord and the parachute cord yanked the parachute open but it did not open properly and all of a sudden this tangled cord and tangled parachute made them descend and spiral down well Dave had the training he kept his cool and he pulled the second chute but because the second chute opened near where the first chute did that was all tangled the second chute did not open and Shirley thought to herself oh my goodness I'm going to die Dave yelled into her ear lift up your feet and surely didn't understand why Dave said that and didn't know what was going on but surely with Dave attached to her back lifted up her feet and as surely lifted up her feet Dave repositioned himself and transitions so that he was laying underneath her and she realized that they were going to make impact with Dave first and her being held by Dave like a shepherd with his sheep Dave held on to Shirley as they descended at close to 40 miles an hour to the ground the parachute had slowed them down but they were still going to make a massive impact on the ground Dave held onto her and at impact they both were really injured but they lived Shirley had a broken neck and broken ribs and broken organs and was rushed to the hospital but Dave though he lived he was crucially injured Shirley made almost a full recovery but Dave ended up being paralyzed except for one arm he was not able to move and he's spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair but what Dave said is quite amazing someone said Dave you're a hero and he said now it was the right thing to do because I took responsibility for her safety hurtling to the ground Dave realized that he had committed himself to this woman and he laid down his life for her so that Shirley might find life Shirley was living her life she keeps in touch with Dave and every day I bet she thinks that man made a decision he didn't have to but he made a decision to lay down his life so that I might have life friends that's what Jesus does for you he takes the impact of God's wrath when he goes to the cross something that you deserve but he lays down his life freely as a gift for you you can't force him to do it but he made the decision to do it because he loves you and he wants to be your shepherd he releases his life in order that you might have life you know as we finish out this series I hope that you're changed as you know the great I am I hope that you understand how much he loves you and how much he cares about you and that every day during this Advent season you can wake up and go I know I'm loved because someone laid down their life for me that I might be restored that I might be brought into the flock of God I know the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the Sheep let's pray Lord Jesus we thank you that you have died in our place and that was why you came you came to gift yourself to us we thank you Lord we couldn't convince you there wasn't anything that we could say we couldn't negotiate or bring up a great argument and yet you just said I'm going to do it I'm going to take the impact of sin on myself and so even as we celebrate you coming into this world might we remember it was to lay down your life for us thank you so much Jesus we love you and we pray that we might find new life as we follow you every day and your name we pray amen would you stand with me now and we're gonna sing he has come for us

Channel: New City Fellowship Church

Views: 1,356

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Lay Down My Life, Good Shepherd, The Good Shepherd, The Gate, John 10, Gospel of John, Hollywood FL, Hallandale, Hallandale Beach, I AM, New City Fellowship, God's Blended Family, Sheep, Shepherd, Great Shepherd of Sheep, Spirituality, Life, Jesus, Psalm 23, Acts 29 Network

Id: KxRPol8NU9s

Length: 27min 48sec (1668 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 18 2017